Among the proteins that have evolved over hundreds of millions of years, with important roles in defence against invading micro-organisms, are the pentraxins. The two major members of the family are known as CRP and SAP, and they evolve due to mutations in the underlying DNA. The Study Group was asked to construct a model of this evolution in order to answer specific questions about the occurrences of these proteins in man and in the horseshoe crab.

Problem presented by
Trever Greenhough (Centre for Molecular Biomedicine, Keele University)

Study Group contributors
C.J.Chapman (Keele University)
J.Gravesen (Technical University of Denmark)
P.G.Hjorth (Technical University of Denmark)
R.Ketzscher (Cranfield University)
A.A.Lacey (Heriot-Watt University)
G.Richardson (University of Nottingham)
N.D.Stringfellow (Cranfield University)